AI Transparency Days — Research Hackathon 2026
Scientific research instead of MVPs.
Research frame
“Loss of control through autonomous agents”
Dates
Fri 20 Nov, 16:00 – Sun 22 Nov 2026, 14:00
Venue
BRANDAD Group AG
Gebhardtstraße 5, 90762 Fürth
Fee
€20 students · €50 everyone else
Teams
3–5 people or individual sign-up
01Executive Summary & Vision
COAI deliberately breaks with the product-driven hackathon format. Instead of immature prototypes or MVPs, the focus is on substantial, open research questions.
The three-day sprint aims at robust scientific starting points: precise hypotheses, sound methodology, well-founded arguments or first experimental data. Promising approaches are to continue in a structured mentoring programme towards publication (workshop or conference papers).
Tech & policy on equal footing
Code is not a prerequisite. Rigorous governance, legal and policy analyses (e.g. regulatory scenarios, gap analyses) have the same methodological standing as technical implementations.
02The Research Frame
No isolated tracks in 2026: every team works under one shared, highly topical frame, viewed through three established perspectives.
Detect
Early-warning systems, metrics and anomaly detection for drift or goal deviation in agentic systems.
Understand
Systemic root-cause analysis, interaction patterns and false assumptions in the oversight of agents.
Control
Technical and regulatory safeguards: guardrails, emergency shutdown, intervention architectures.
03Tooling & Formats
Agent-Collabs Sandbox · optional
A modular multi-agent test environment for experimental work: one isolated instance per team, with example scenarios such as a trojan or sleeper within a collective.
Recommended output
Structured abstract
Max. 600 words in six sections, from scenario and thesis via method and result to outlook and references; appendix for code or logs.
Adequate evidence
Run logs, code repositories, source collections or coherent legal-conceptual argumentation.
Pitch
6 slides · 5-minute talk · 3-minute expert Q&A.
Open research · not judged
Open Stage
A jury-free presentation stage for innovative work outside the official research frame.
04Interdisciplinary Jury & Evaluation Rubric
The jury spans technology, policy, mechanistic interpretability and AI safety. Scientific quality is assessed with one rubric:
| Criterion | Weight | Core question |
|---|---|---|
| Contribution to the theme | 25 % | Is a real mechanism of loss of control addressed, with a robust gain in insight? |
| Method & reasoning | 25 % | Is the approach adequate and transparently documented, with its limitations reflected? |
| Evidence | 20 % | Are the claims backed by valid data, runs, cases or sources? |
| Scientific novelty | 15 % | Does the work go significantly beyond known demos and standard reviews? |
| Science communication | 15 % | Are question and results conveyed clearly and precisely across disciplines? |
Prizes are awarded to the winning teams. Judging criteria follow the rubric above; the prizes themselves will be announced closer to the event.
Registration
Registration is open. Tickets are sold through our pretix shop. Places are limited. The event is on-site only — there is no hybrid format.
Students
€20
Participation ticket for students.
Everyone else
€50
Participation ticket for all other participants.
Hackathon T-shirt · optional
€30
Sizes S–XXL, incl. 19 % VAT. Order by 25 October 2026. Shirts are handed out on-site.
Fair-use pricing & cancellation
Pricing is self-declared: we do not verify student status and trust you to choose the option that applies to you. The fee is charged at registration and helps us plan catering, materials and the venue. No refunds are possible, but you can transfer your ticket to another person. If something comes up at short notice, tell us as early as possible at [email protected] — we handle exceptional cases individually.
Contact
COAI gGmbH · Josephsplatz 8, 90403 Nuremberg, Germany
AI Transparency Days 2026 · hosted by COAI · Fürth · 20–22 Nov 2026 · status October 2026